Other Common Names
Red Milkweed Beetle, Milkweed Borer
Explanation of Names
Tetraopes Dalman in
Schönherr 1817
Greek tetra 'four' + ops 'eye' (each compound eye of the beetle is divided into two)
Numbers
14-15 spp. in our area, 27 total
(1)Identification
Bright red to reddish orange with black spots longhorn beetles associated with milkweed (
Asclepias species) or, in a few cases, related plants
Range
Canada to Costa Rica; in our area, 3 spp. are eastern, the rest mostly western, with 7 restricted to sw. US
(1)Season
mostly Jun-Sept, longer in TX (BG data)
Food
Adults feed on leaves of milkweed (
Asclepias); larvae feed externally on roots of host (root feeding is unique among Lamiinae).
(2)
Tetraopes species and their host plants, Asclepias
T. annulatus: ….........A. sullivantii, A. subverticillata, A. speciosa, A. tuberosa, A. verticillata, A. viridiflorus.
T. basalis: …...........A. eriocarpa, A. fascicularis, A. speciosa
T. discoideus: …........A. auriculata, A. curassavica, A. glaucescens, A. linaria, A. subverticillata, A. verticillata
T. femoratus: ….........A. fascicularis, A. hallii, A. hirtella, A. lemmonii, A. meadii, A. speciosa, A. syriaca, A. viridis,
T. huetheri: …..........A. verticillata
T. linsleyi: …..........A. linaria
T. mandibularis: …......A. latifolia
T. melanurus: ….........A. capricornis asperula, A. linaris, A. subverticillata, A. tuberosa
T. paracomes: .....Matelea quirosii
T. Pilosus: …............A. arenaria, A. tuberosa
T. quadrimaculatus: …....A. syriaca
T. quinquemaculatus: ....A. amplexicaulis, A. hirtella
T. sublaevis: …..........A. erosa
T. tetrophthalmus: ….....A. syriaca
T. texanus: …............A. hirtella, A. viridiflora, A. viridis
Life Cycle
One generation per year. Adults feed on milkweeds above ground. Larvae feed on roots.
Print References
Chemsak, J.A. 1963. Taxonomy and bionomics of the genus Tetraopes (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera). University of California Publications in Entomology 30(1): 1-90.
Chemsak, J.A., & F.A. Noguera. 2003. New species of the genus Tetraopes Schoenherr (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 79: 237-244.
Farrell, B.D. 1991. Phylogenetics of insect/plant interactions: Tetraopes and Asclepias. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Maryland.
Farrell, B.D. 2001. Evolutionary assembly of the milkweed fauna: Cytochrome Oxidase I and the age of
Tetraopes beetles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 18(3): 467–478.
(3)
Farrell, B.D., & C. Mitter. 1998. The timing of insect/plant diversification: Might
Tetraopes (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and
Asclepias (Asclepiadaceae) have co-evolved? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 63: 553–577.
(2)
Hartman, F.A. 1977. The ecology and coevolution of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca, Asclepiadacieae) and milkweed beetles (Tetraopes tetraophthalmus, Cerambycidae). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Linsley E.G. and J.A. Chemsak. 1995. The Cerambycidae of North America. Part 7, No. 2: Taxonomy and Classification of the Subfamily Lamiinae, Tribes Acanthocinini through Hemilophini. University of California Press, Berkeley. 114: xi + 292 pp., 55 figs.
(4)
Rice, M.R. 1988. Natural history observations on Tetraopes and other Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) from the Great Plains ecosystem. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 61: 412–419.
Skillman F.W., Jr. 2007. A new species of
Tetraopes Schoenherr (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Insecta Mundi 0008: 1-3 (
Full text)
